1. Field of the Disclosure
This specification relates to a circuit breaker, and more particularly, a circuit breaker capable of preventing an increase in temperature.
2. Background of the Disclosure
As generally known, a circuit breaker is a type of an electric apparatus for protecting load devices and circuits. The circuit breaker automatically breaks a circuit when it senses that an electric circuit is manually switched on or off or a fault current, such as a short-circuit current, occurs.
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the related art circuit breaker.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the related art circuit breaker is configured such that a terminal switching unit 20 is mounted in an enclosure 10 thereof.
The terminal switching unit 20 includes a fixed contactor (not illustrated) and a movable contactor (not illustrated) that are contactable with or separated from each other within a base 30 as an outer casing of the terminal switching unit 20, a sliding unit (not illustrated) to rotatably support the movable contactor, and a detection mechanism 70 to detect a fault current.
With the configuration, in a normal state of the related art circuit breaker, the fixed contactor and the movable contactor are maintained in a closed state, such that currents can keep flowing. On the other hand, when a fault current occurs, the detection mechanism 70 opens (or separates) the movable contactor from the fixed contactor to perform a breaking operation.
However, in the related art circuit breaker, while a current normally flows, temperature increases in response to the flow of the current. When the temperature excessively increases, a mal-function of the circuit breaker may be caused or a user may be hurt. Of course, an additional installation of a cooling element, such as a cooling fan, may be taken into account to prevent the increase in the temperature of the circuit breaker. However, it may result in an increase in fabricating costs and a limitation of an installation space.